The Hogwarts Ghost
by DeadlyInformant
Summary: Danny Fenton, a boy with a dark past, comes across Harry in his third year at the Leaky Cauldron. Neither know their fates are intertwined with the wizarding world's, or how much of a shock wave they'll make when they're together. AU, contains slash.
1. Enter the Light

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter or Danny Phantom.

**Warning:** This will have Harry Potter/Voldemort (Tom Riddle) and Danny Fenton/Vlad Masters pairings, so if that kind of thing disgusts you please don't read on. If you can stand it just to read a story, then go ahead and read on. If you enjoy the idea of the pairings then again simply continue reading on.

Any questions that you have go ahead and send me a PM if you want, I'll respond and answer to the best of my ability without ruining any plot points that will come up eventually.

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A young teenage male sighed as he walked down a set of rickety stairs. He'd been staying at this inn called the "Leaky Cauldron" for a week now and despite that he still wasn't used to some of the strange things that occurred while he was there. Like whenever a waiter washed the tables the glasses would disappear off the table as soon as he washed them- sometimes he didn't even wash them at all but pointed this stick at the glasses and poof they'd be gone.

When it had first occurred Daniel thought that it had been some kind of strange ghost power, some ability to use a stick to make the glasses intangible. However he hadn't seen what use doing such a thing would be, after all the glasses wouldn't exactly be going anywhere that he could tell and it wasn't going to do any good to make glasses intangible so that patrons couldn't use them.

He had intended on asking someone what the strange occurrences were about but he'd never found the chance to actually come out and ask someone. After all, it seemed an extremely commonplace thing in this inn and therefore asking about it would clue anyone in that Daniel might not necessarily belong there and they would kick him out. Which would be quite a shame really, as this was one of the most fascinating places he'd stayed at in a long time.

Once he was down the stairs he walked over to an empty table near the window, settling down in the booth there. As a seemingly unwritten rule no one came to check on him, which he'd already gotten used to. Instead he simply looked through the menu on the table, looking for an item on it that he hadn't already had. Trying out new food was always entertaining, and you never knew what you were going to eat. Not to mention that the menu had some very strange items on it, such as newt tails…

Daniel was so engrossed in reading through the menu and thinking over what exactly he wanted this morning that when a loud 'bang' sounded from outside the inn, joined by many alarms from the cars on the street, he nearly shot out of his seat cursing. It was only intense self-control that stopped him from doing such.

Turning in his seat, he slowly released his death grip on the menu in his hands and lowered the slightly rumpled menu onto the table. Outside the window there was a blue triple decker bus in the street, innocent but for the fact that Daniel knew no triple decker bus in the city was supposed to be blue. Or in this street either, as it wasn't a traffic area for a bus to stop at as it was.

Curiosity peaked, he watched as a young teenage boy stepped off the bus. When he went to the compartment on the bus' side which held passenger luggage he pulled out a huge trunk along with a bird cage.

Rather strange objects for someone to pull around with them, Daniel couldn't help but note.

The man who ran the Leaky Cauldron, Tom he remembered him as, was already limping his way towards the young boy. Just like with many of the people who came to this strange place, he pulled a stick out of his pocket and waved it at several of the honking cars on the street to silence them.

Unable to simply sit at the table and not know what was going on currently, as this was certainly not a normal occurrence around this strange place, Danny took a quick look around the room to make sure that no one was watching him before turning intangible.

He walked straight through the wall, sneaking closer to listen in on what the young boy and the innkeeper were saying. Danny didn't dare sneak too close though, he had no way of knowing if they would somehow be able to detect he was there with their strange abilities.

"Mr. Potter," Tom was saying at the moment, "it's a good thing that you arrived safely. The Minister would have my head if you got lost and didn't make it safely here."

The boy was frowning in what Danny could only guess confusion as he listened to the man and looked at the owl in its cage.

"Why would the Minister be worried about me? Shouldn't he want to expel me?" he asked slowly, clearly not believing what he was being told.

Tom laughed in that low way he had and ambled back towards the inn, his stick pointing at the boy's luggage and causing it to float along behind him through the door with him. Danny gaped openly at that, glad that no one could see him doing so, and followed behind him.

"The Minister would feel very upset if the one who helped out Hogwarts last year was killed because he couldn't keep him protected from dangers," was his only reply to the boy's question.

Danny couldn't help but wonder who this Minister was; did they mean the prime minister? What could the prime minister be interested in a young boy's safety for?

Instead of replying to Tom, the boy stayed silent and followed along behind him as he led him into a side room that Danny could only assume was Tom's personal room. When he tried to follow them into it he found himself unable to, walking straight into the wall in a way that was only possible if someone was using an anti-ghost shield. Which he was rather sure no one here had.

Rather gob smacked at this, he was rather disappointed at the same time for not being able to listen in on what was going on in the room. Despite this setback he walked back to the table he had been sitting at and, with a quick look around the room once more, turned visible once more to take his seat again.

He settled on what he wanted to eat and waited patiently, knowing that for whatever reason someone would just know what he wanted to order. And several minutes later what he had wanted to order floated to his table from nowhere and settled down in front of him, looking and smelling as delicious as he thought it would have.

When faced with such a delicious meal how could he not simply dig in and eat?

Once he had eaten his meal Danny simply placed down the proper amount of cash to pay for it and watched as it floated away along with his plate, shaking his head in amusement at the strangeness of this place.

He stood up from the table and moved towards the stairs to return to his room, yelping when something suddenly rammed into his side before he could start up the stairs.

Danny hissed under his breath as he rubbed at his side and turned to see what had run into him so carelessly.

The boy from earlier was staring wide-eyed at him and biting on his lip in a nervous manner, holding onto his bird's cage. It must have been that which had knocked into him by accident, as it was the only thing that was close enough to do so. The owl in the cage hooted at him and fluffed up its feathers.

"I-I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going," the boy started in a rush, as though he was worried that he would yell at him.

"It's no problem," Danny replied with a smile, "accidents can happen. I certainly wasn't watching my surroundings either or else I would have let you pass, since you must have been thinking hard."

The owl boy smiled shyly in response to his kindness, shifting the cage under his arm and didn't reply.

Danny noticed the trunk behind the boy and peered around it to get a better look at it. What a strange thing to lug around with you, it looked very heavy as well and this thin boy didn't seem strong enough to really carry it that far.

"Would you like some help carrying that up to your room?" he asked, turning his attention back to the boy.

"W-well I-I don't really…" the boy mumbled in response, his face starting to take on a red tint. Danny waited for him to finish his sentence. "…Have a room…"

"You don't have a room?" he asked, slightly incredulous. Hadn't the innkeeper implied earlier that this boy was important to some Minister fellow? It was rather improper manners to not have a room immediately ready for someone who was supposed to be so important.

"Well it's true that the rest of the rooms were all occupied last I saw," he said slowly, frowning as he thought of whether there was a room open or not. He definitely remembered someone being turned to another inn while he was eating though, so there couldn't be any rooms open for this boy.

"Why don't you stay with me?" he asked, deciding then and there to throw caution to the wind. While this boy might be some kind of insane psychopath he was certainly willing to take this chance to get to know him, maybe it was just that he was lonely enough to risk his life. Whatever it was, he tended to trust his instincts, as they hadn't led him astray just yet.

In response to his question the boy simply gaped openly at him, as though he hadn't ever expected anyone to be so kind as to actually request he stay with them.

Grinning teasingly, he prodded the boy with a, "Unless you want to try to find a room at another inn, but those can be pretty far and I've heard that they're a bit pricier than here."

The boy's owl chittered almost angrily and bit at his finger, causing the boy to jump and snap out of whatever he was currently thinking about.

"S-sure, I-I mean… so long as it's not a bother for you," he stuttered, looking down at the owl with a disapproving yet affectionate look.

"Hey," Danny said with a slight laugh, "if it was a bother to me I wouldn't offer it in the first place. You don't need to worry about being some kind of bother to me."

Realizing that he hadn't introduced himself, he stuck out his hand and said, "My name's Danny, by the way."

The raven-haired boy stared at his hand as though he'd never been offered a handshake before, taking a bit longer than necessary to take it and shake. Even then his handshake was rather loose and unconfident.

"T-thanks. I'm Harry, Harry Potter," he responded, looking up at him as though he expected him to suddenly have some kind of deep revelation.

"Really? Nice name Harry," was all Danny had to say in response to that. After all, he'd heard far stranger names in his lifetime, there was no need to be concerned by what this boy's name was. "Let me help you with that trunk, you look dead on your feet and you already have that cage to carry up as it is."

While he stepped around the boy and grabbed the trunk's handle to start pulling it up the stairs, the boy was trying to disagree with him.

"Y-You don't have to do that! I can carry it up by myself," he said in a rush, reaching out his hand to take the trunk's handle from him.

Danny tutted and pushed his hand away, scrutinizing him closely. Thin glasses that didn't seem to properly fit his face and which were falling down from the first moment he met the boy, green emerald eyes with a beautiful glow to them were settled behind the glasses. Untamed raven hair lay on the boy's head as though he had never known what a brush was, or that it constantly had battles with any brush that tried to tame it and defeated the brush every time.

And then there were the clothes covering the boy's body that looked far too big for his size and hung off him most unattractively. Despite the fact that the clothes were too big, Danny could still tell that the boy didn't have as strong of muscles as he himself did and they certainly weren't enough to take the trunk up the stairs without strain.

Under his scrutiny Harry flushed and flicked his eyes down to the ground, not quick enough for him to hide the shame that lay in those emerald eyes.

"We're going to go into London tomorrow to get you some new clothes," he firmly told the boy as he turned to carry the trunk up the stairs.

Harry followed after him and protested immediately, "No, no, we don't need to do that. I don't want to be more of a burden than I already am, you don't need to get me anything."

"Nonsense," he rebutted him, "I don't care what you think might be a bother to me, whatever we get won't put a dent in my account. Now come on, I think you're going to like staying with me for the time that you're here."

When he looked back at the boy with a large grin, he looked back at him with a small one. Danny could tell Harry was still uncertain about him spending money on him, and he was probably also stunned someone was actually offering to do so as well.

"T-thanks… I guess…" he said quietly in response.

Danny fetched out the key to his room from his pocket and unlocked the door, opening it quickly and lugging the trunk into it. He made sure that it was settled down on a second bed in his room.

"You can pay me back by telling me how the hell everyone manages to do all those cool things," he chirped as he turned back towards the boy.

Harry blinked in confusion at him. "What do you mean by that?"

Danny huffed and threw his arms up. "Like how people here are always doing weird things. Like making things disappear, or making something hover… stuff like that!"

Harry now looked surprised and slightly alarmed at what he had said.

"You mean you don't know about magic? Then how did you get in here? Only wizards and squibs can see this place," he said slowly as though he was thinking it over himself as well. His eyes flickered to the door, and Danny was sure he was wondering whether he should make a run for it or not.

"Magic is it?" he asked as he shrugged in response to the boy's questions. "Well, now that I think about it that does make a lot of sense. I've seen enough strange things in my life to believe what's right in front of my eyes," he said dismissively, as if he was told every day that things like magic existed.

Emerald eyes stared at him as their owner slowly asked, "So you're not going to freak out?"

"Why should I, it's just magic. I've run across far scarier things that were trying to kill or eat me, I'm rather open to anything at the moment," Danny said with another shrug, flashing a grin at the still-nervous teen.

All nervousness seemed to wash away from the boy at his grin, and he grinned back at him. "You know what? I think we're going to get along just fine," was his response.

Danny snorted, he would have been rather surprised if they didn't with the way Harry had seemed to instantly trust him without a problem just as he trusted the boy to stay with him. As long as he kept his secret to himself this boy could stay his friend, but he couldn't get too close to him because too close meant that he would find out. He'd rather not have to kill this new friend…

Harry walked over to the trunk on the bed, placing the owl's cage on the bedside table. Before he opened his trunk he opened the cage and cooed at his owl.

"Come here Hedwig," he murmured lovingly. The white owl nipped at his finger and rubbed its head against his hand before stepping out onto his hand.

"This is my snowy owl, Hedwig," Harry explained as he turned back towards Danny, holding out his hand with the bird on it towards him.

While owls made him slightly nervous, they had sharp beaks after all, Danny certainly couldn't just snub the creature. So he reached out his own hand to let the owl treat him the same way that it had treated its owner.

"She must really like you," Harry said approvingly, smiling at him as his owl hooted softly and nipped Danny's finger again.

"Though she's probably hungry," he added as an afterthought, looking at the window.

"She needs to go out?" Danny asked thoughtfully, watching as the boy walked over to the window and opened it.

"Yeah," Harry responded with a nod, flashing him a grin. "Unless you wanted to watch her eat mice in here, though I don't have any."

Danny wrinkled his nose at the thought. Harry laughed and rubbed the owl's head again. "Go on girl; get yourself some mice to eat. I'll be staying here until I need to get on the train, so whenever you're done you can just come back here or return to Hogwarts."

The owl hooted once more before taking off out the window. Harry watched her until she was out of sight before closing the window again. Taking a deep breath, he turned towards his trunk and opened it to look through his items.

"What brings you here anyway?" he asked while doing that, not seeing the flinch that Danny had.

"_You asshole! I trusted you and now you tell us you're not human!"_

He bit his lip at the memory. "I… I just wanted to get away from my life at home," he said softly in response, looking at the wall.

"_Sam! This is why I didn't tell you or Tucker, I knew you'd freak out!"_

He could tell that Harry was giving him a worried and sad look. "I'm sorry if that brings up memories. If you want you could talk about it, I hear talking about things can help. You don't have to if you don't want to though."

Danny didn't respond however, and so the boy continued with what he was doing.

"_Dude, you'll turn your back on us and hand us over to your ghost friends! How could we have ever trusted you!"_

"_I… I thought you were different than other humans…"_

"_Of course we are, we're going to get rid of you so you can't hurt anyone else!"_

"_All you humans are the same. All you care about is your own kind, you never care about others. If you discover someone isn't human, you turn your back on them even if they're your best friend. You disgust me. You don't deserve to live."_

"_W-what are you talking about you monster? You killed them all, I know you did! It had to be you, why should we trust you when you did tha-"_

_Slash, red liquid spewing everywhere, a scream, thunk…s_

"_You killed him! You killed him, you bastar-"_

_Another cut in the night, a second fountain of red, and then silence._

"_Humans don't deserve to live if this is how they are. I'll never trust a human again; I'll never let them near me. They don't deserve to live, backstabbers… If anyone tries to get close to me, I'll kill them…"_

_Footsteps faded away, new ones creeping near. A scream rent through the night as the deaths were discovered._

"It's nothing too important," Danny mumbled, reaching up to rub at his eyes and wipe away the tears that were gathering there at the painful memory.

With that gone he turned towards the boy who had finished putting his trunk under the bed and was now sitting on it watching him.

"You should get some sleep, we'll be going to London in the morning," he told him, turning towards his own bed so that the boy wouldn't see the swirling emotions in his eyes. That had been so very long ago, was it possible at all for humans to change?

He'd promised himself that he wouldn't let anyone near him again though, it had only ever caused him pain and he didn't want to suffer that again. Even if this boy seemed to be so very kind.

"Okay…" Harry said shyly, "If you feel like talking, I can listen though. Goodnight Danny."

Danny settled down under the covers of the bed, listening to Harry do the same. He could hear the young raven's soft breathing as he tried to get to sleep and wondered if he would be able to do the same.

For just a split second he'd almost given in to his offer, the sweetness and kindness in his voice enticing him. The urge was immediately crushed though, there was no way he could trust someone like that again. No human was truly kind towards something outside of their own species, they couldn't accept someone like thim.

And so he fell asleep to the screams of the past, of two people he once trusted with all his heart. The two who had then taken his heart and crushed it into pieces, not understanding the pain they had caused him even as they died from his hand. Those who had taken him in when no one else ever wanted him, the ones he had believed were different and would never betray him.

Yes, he'd learned long ago what a mistake it was telling a human what he was. And that mistake could not be repeated.


	2. Peace at the Start

Sorry this one took a while, I was trying to figure out how to rewrite the second chapter from my earlier fic that I had of this one and ended up just deciding that I would entirely rewrite this chapter. I'll try to update this one faster, I got distracted with other things and my Bleach fic hehe.

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Something was poking at his side while he was sleeping, causing him to frown and shift, trying to burrow further under the covers to escape the offending feeling. When it continued to poke at him and ignore his grunts of irritation he knew he was going to have to put a stop to this with action.

The next time he felt the poke he caught the perpetrator's wrist hard, hearing a squeak from behind him. He glowered sleepily over his shoulder at Harry's guilty expression, the boy biting his lip and looking anywhere but at him now.

Forgiveness came quick though when he released the boy's wrist and simply rolled onto his back and stretched out, a low sound of appreciation leaving him at how his muscles burned slightly.

Feeling much better with a stretch he rubbed the heel of his palms over his eyes and yawned wide, looking at Harry who had shuffled back from his bed still looking embarrassed.

"What time is it anyway…?" Danny mumbled as he sat up, kicking back the blankets from around his body so they were half on the floor.

Harry shifted from foot to foot and answered quickly, as though trying to make up for his impatient actions. "It's ten; I thought it'd be nice to let us sleep in a bit. I know I was exhausted and you didn't look like you wanted to wake up."

Danny nodded and stood up, the world shifting around him as black spots appeared in his eyes. Grunting in irritation he waited for the feeling to pass so he could get around to changing out of his bedclothes. It was always annoying to get a head rush.

Harry had already changed he noticed and the boy was once again looking anywhere than at him while he changed. He could tell it wasn't because the boy was embarrassed at his changing, more like he wanted to give him the privacy changing almost demanded.

"We're supposed to be going to London today, right?" the boy asked shyly as he fiddled with the sleeve of the shirt he was wearing.

Danny buttoned his pants and looped his belt through them, clicking the belt together and making sure that it wouldn't budge and fall down. After years of embarrassing pantsing incidents he'd learned how to avoid such a problem again.

"Yeah," he said with a sharp nod, eyeing Harry. "You're not getting out of it either if that's what you're worried about," he said teasingly.

As though the boy was alarmed that he'd read his mind he was gaping at him, a flush growing over his cheeks. "I-I was definitely not thinking about that!" Although at Danny's amused look he looked down and muttered under his breath, "Okay, maybe I was thinking it a little…"

Nodding as though that was exactly what he had expected Danny picked up his small bag from the dresser he placed it on and put one arm through it, letting it hang over his shoulder. Maybe it looked a bit like a purse to some people, but he would swear up and down it was simply manly. Besides it wasn't like he had enough that he needed a backpack, honestly.

Danny turned around to see Harry sitting on his bed, apparently already having whatever it was he needed. Not that he expected the boy to have all that much, considering what these wizards seemed to think of as storage was giant trunks. Or maybe that was school storage, he wasn't exactly sure. He'd yet to see anyone in the pub carrying backpacks or anything bigger than a small purse.

"Well then, let's get going," he said cheerfully, holding out his hand to the sitting boy. Harry stared at his hand as though he'd never seen anything like it but eventually he put his own hand in Danny's. Danny grinned wide and pulled hard, getting the boy off the bed but also nearly sending him sprawling on the floor.

Harry squeaked as he caught himself before he could fall, giving Danny a glare. "D-danny, you did that on purpose!"

The blue-eyed boy simply laughed at the look on his face and walked over to the door, opening it wide so he could go through it and holding it open for the other boy. "Of course I did it, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up," he said cheerfully.

The boy pushed past him, bumping his shoulder against Danny's as though it was some kind of payback for how he'd pranked him. Danny simply shook his head, not losing his grin at all, and shut the door behind them. He had to stay an extra moment to lock the door and put the key away but then he was following the boy who'd already gone down the stairs and was waiting by the door to the inn.

"Danny, we should probably head out quick," Harry whispered to him, head tilting towards where Tom was watching them intently. Danny remembered how no one apparently wanted Harry to be out on his own and so he nodded and led the boy out the door quick. No one followed them though, so he wasn't sure if they were really that concerned.

Harry was silent as he walked alongside Danny down the walkway, although Danny didn't mind it too much considering he had to keep track of where they were in London to begin with. He didn't know the place as well as he'd known most of the places he'd stayed in but he knew it well enough to know where the best clothing stores were.

Whenever Harry strayed too far from him, lost in whatever thoughts he was in, Danny tugged his sleeve lightly to lead him back in the right direction. Harry gave him grateful glances for that, and Danny would always look forward quickly to keep the glow of happiness out of his heart.

He wasn't going to be staying with this boy for long after all, as soon as this boy was off to the school that he was going to Danny wouldn't see him again. The only reason he was helping the boy was because of his curiosity and the fact that he didn't have the heart to leave someone who obviously could be helped alone.

Getting close to the boy would only end up with both of them hurt; although Danny was sure he'd be the one who would be more hurt. Especially since this boy could use magic, who knew what it could do to him. He'd never had to go up against magic, didn't even know if it could affect someone like him.

When they reached the store he led Harry into it, appreciating the way Harry stared open-mouthed around him as though he'd never seen a store like this before. Considering the state of Harry's dress Danny wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

His heart almost hurt at the idea that a young boy had never been given the opportunity to actually have decent clothes.

A store employee bustled over to them, she was chewing on a bubble gum but she didn't seem like one of those rude girls Danny had to deal with before when he'd gone into clothing stores. In fact she seemed really sweet in comparison.

Light brown eyes looked between them and Danny tilted his head silently towards Harry, telling the girl without words that Harry was the one who was meant to be shopping here. The girl's eyes and face lit up in a smile, perhaps pleased that her customer wasn't someone grumpy. Or perhaps pleased that Harry looked so excited to be here, surely many boys didn't have that kind of reaction to clothing stores.

Whatever it was she quickly stepped forward, careful to stay out of Harry's personal space. "Hello sir, you look a little overwhelmed by the store. Could I ask what it was that you came here to get so I can help you with it?" she asked, and her voice sounded playful yet just the right amount of professional.

Harry stared at the girl, mouth opening and closing. Maybe he didn't even know there were choices one could have when it came to clothes. Danny took pity on him and rescued him.

"Well he's not very familiar with clothing stores as you might have guessed," Danny said smoothly, smiling at the girl apologetically. "But we'd like it if you could please help us find some shirts and pants for him, a belt or two would be nice if you have some good ones. Maybe a sweatshirt and a jacket as well, it can get cold during the winter and he might not have the opportunity to get a jacket since his school is very busy during the winter."

Danny wasn't entirely sure about that last part or if it was even cold at all in the magical world but he wanted to cover all his bases as it was. And for all he knew it might actually be very hard for Harry in a magical school to get access to regular clothing.

The woman was nodding and looking Harry over, eyes considering. "I might need to take your measurements," she said finally, nodding decisively. "Not to be rude dear but your clothing makes it hard to guess properly what your size is."

Harry looked at Danny pleadingly, begging him silently to save him from whatever measurements were, but Danny simply grinned at him.

"I-I…" Harry mumbled, eyes flicking from the girl to several of the clothes racks around them. "Well, I guess if that's the easiest way to do things, it's okay if you want to do that."

The girl, Jessica as the tag on her uniform said, smiled wide and turned around, leading the two of them to a space beside the checkout counter where several measuring tapes lay on the counter.

"You don't have to take anything off," she told Harry at his apprehensive look, smiling comfortingly at him. "I can do all of this without that, so you don't need to worry. I don't think you look bad either, in case you're embarrassed about yourself."

Harry didn't look very comforted but he did stop fidgeting now, Danny was curious how much self-confidence issues the boy had but he didn't ask him about it to give him personal space. He wouldn't have asked even if Jessica hadn't been there. They weren't that close after all.

Jessica picked up the measuring tape and unrolled it. "Could you stand right here, dear?" she asked Harry, indicating a spot on the ground where some tape was placed with an "X". Harry nodded and stepped onto the mark.

The girl smiled again and went to work measuring Harry. Danny had seen this happen enough times with someone that he didn't particularly care to watch it again, one of his old jobs had been to do this exact kind of thing after all. Instead he wandered away, trusting that Harry could handle himself against the evils of a store manager.

The aisles weren't hard to navigate and he found himself absently looking through some clothes that might look good on him. One of his favorite was a black jacket with white trimming on it; on the front of it was a green splatter that reminded him amusedly of what humans sometimes considered ghosts to look like. It was good enough that he would rather enjoy wearing this and with that thought in mind he looked through the sizes until he found the proper one for himself to wear.

When he'd looked through several more articles of clothing and had even found himself a nifty black belt with white metal as the buckle he heard Harry calling for him from near the register. Peeking around the corner of the aisle he was at he could see Harry shuffling around in front of the register, a pile of clothing in front of him on the desk.

Danny whistled low in appreciation, apparently the girl wasn't a slacker at all if she'd collected all that together for Harry so fast.

They weren't there for Danny to get a bunch of clothes anyway, so Danny was content with the few pieces that he'd gathered and he walked over to Harry and placed the clothes he'd gotten on the desk register one over from Harry's. While they weren't checking out separately it would certainly help Jessica know which of the clothing she'd already rung up.

Jessica raised her eye as she looked over the clothing Danny had put down, looking up at him and giving him the critical eye. Whatever she thought it must have been positive because she smiled and winked at him, picking at the clothes to ring them up and laying them on the clothes she'd already rung up for Harry.

The total wasn't something that high, somewhere in the range of $300 or $400, he wasn't particularly that good at the exchange rate between American and British currency. Either way it didn't bother him and he held out his credit card for the girl to take and swipe through the machine. It wouldn't put a dent on his account, just like he'd told Harry before.

Jessica smiled at him when the transaction went through and she handed back his card.

"I'm glad I was able to help you," she said warmly, popping another bit of gum into her mouth even as she moved their clothing into bags for them. The girl was sweet enough to make sure the clothes wouldn't overweigh a bag and break it, and she kept the bags neat and organized so they weren't overflowing either.

Danny nodded at her and smiled back. "Thank you very much for the help."

Harry agreed with him quickly, smile wider than Danny's. "I really wouldn't have known what to do at all if you hadn't helped me, if I need any more help I'll be sure to come back here. This place is really nice."

Perhaps the girl didn't get enough compliments or praise because she was blushing now, eyes softening further than they'd done the entire time they'd been in the store. "I love helping people," she said gently as they picked up their bags. "I hope you both have a very good day."

"You too, miss Jessica," Danny said with a slight bow as he ducked out of the store, Harry on his heels.

The younger boy waved despite the struggle it caused him with the bags in his hands and they could hear Jessica's giggle even as they were on the street.

Both of them smiled at each other, warm feelings spreading through each of them as they walked back to the Leaky Cauldron to put away their spoils.

}-{

While it had been a struggle to get the clothing into Harry's trunk they had managed it in the end. The trunk looked a little overfull at the end of it but neither of them minded too much. Harry had already gotten all the materials he'd needed for his school year as it was, so it wasn't like they'd need to stuff more into it. So long as the trunk didn't go popping open there was no issue until the boy was at Hogwarts and unpacking.

As they sat on their respective beds Harry was fiddling with a picture book that he had, looking between all the pictures that lay in it.

"Hey Danny?" Harry asked as he looked up at him, a thoughtful look on his face.

Danny paused from where he had sprawled out on his bed and was drawing in a sketchbook he kept on him. "Mmm, what is it Harry?"

"Well, you said you don't know much about magic, yeah?"

Danny nodded and put down his pencil, his concentration broken. Not that he blamed Harry at all, it was rather nice to have another person to talk to after all.

"I was thinking that since you didn't know much perhaps it would be nice to go to Diagon Alley."

"What's Diagon Alley?"

Harry gave him a look of utter disbelief. "You've been staying in the Leaky Cauldron all this time and you haven't even seen or heard of Diagon Alley?"

He felt like he needed to defend himself against whatever he'd apparently failed at, if Harry's look was anything to go by.

"Well it's not like many people were willing to talk to me, and you wouldn't believe how little people actually interacted in this place. The most I've been hearing since I've been here is about that madman Sirius Black that's on the loose."

The other boy seemed slightly appeased by that explanation, if not a little pale now at the mention of the serial killer that was running around. "I guess maybe you can't get into Diagon Alley since you don't know how. Whatever let you into the Leaky Cauldron might have only allowed you in here."

Danny nodded and closed the sketchbook, placing it back into his small bag. "So what exactly is this Diagon Ally and how important is it?"

"Oh you have no idea how important it is! It's like the major shopping area for wizards in Britain; it has nearly everything you ever want there!" Harry burst excitedly; Danny got the feeling he was also happy to be able to explain something to someone. He got the feeling Harry was on the receiving end of things like this often, so having it turned around must be nice.

"It's where Hogwarts students get their books, their potion ingredients, their robes, even their very first wands. Although there's a bad part of the Alley called Knockturn Alley where the dark wizards apparently go. I accidentally ended up there in second year, and it wasn't a very pleasant experience however short the trip was."

Danny got the feeling there was more to that particular story than what Harry was saying, after all how does one 'accidentally' end up somewhere? Although he supposed when magic was involved 'accidents' might just happen quite often.

"So it'd be a great place to see how wizards interact and what all wizards have available to them to buy and such?" he asks to make certain he understood what this place was.

Harry nodded and beamed at him, Danny was sure the boy believed he'd gotten him hooked on the idea. He also knew that Harry probably wanted to go himself, feeling cheated out of being able to since the minister had apparently already gotten all his school items for him.

Danny took a few moments to consider the idea, enjoying the nervous and impatient look that was growing on Harry's face. Finally he took pity on the boy and smiled at him.

"Sure, that sounds like a great idea to me. I mean, what else is there to do but to go see how your people live? I've always loved new things."

Harry was up off the bed before Danny had even finished his sentence, tugging impatiently at his shoulders to get him up off the bed.

That rather startled Danny so much he simply let the boy even when he was tugging him towards the door and out. He did have to stop him so he could lock the door though.

Danny followed behind Harry with raised brows. This was a new side of Harry he hadn't seen before. The boy had seemed rather meek and willing to go along with what others suggested instead of offering anything himself. As though he didn't believe he even had a choice in the matter, to see him not only offering suggestions but also being so straight-forward in getting there too made him pleased.

However staring at a brick wall was not what he had in mind when he heard about this Diagon Alley.

"This is Diagon Alley."

At Danny's blank look Harry smiled hesitantly and took out the stick that was his wand. Instead of answering him he tapped it on the bricks in front of him in a certain pattern that Danny filed away in his mind.

When the bricks in front of him started moving he raised his brows in slight surprise but otherwise was unphased even as they moved aside to show the doorway into the brightly lit Diagon Alley.

Harry pouted in disappointment at his lack of reaction, to which Danny grinned at him.

"I've seen a lot of things in my life, and while that ranked high on the list of awesome it was also not enough to make me gasp and fawn over it."

"Well, I'm sure you'll see something that's going to astound you and then you'll be making such a silly face I'm going to laugh at you," Harry proclaimed, cheeks puffing up slightly when Danny only grinned wider.

Instead of teasing him Danny simply walked through the bricks, hearing them close behind them when Harry followed after him. The Alley looked large, with tons of shops from what he could see just in this area.

He didn't particularly know any of the shops though, so he looked at Harry. "So where's the first place that we should go?" he asked the young wizard.

Harry looked around as well, taking in all the different shops around them. "Well, we should go to Gringotts first; while you may have a lot of Muggle money apparently I'm not sure if it transfers well to Wizard money. If it does the goblins will be the ones who can answer that for us, and if it doesn't then I can use some of my own money."

The boy looked at him worriedly. "What is it?"

"Well…" he said slowly, embarrasement coloring his voice. "Ron doesn't like it when I try to pay for some things for him, even though I have enough money to spoil him. I don't want to make you angry if you don't want me to pay for things for you either…"

Danny simply laughed and patted the boy on the shoulder as he started walking down the Alley. "If I get angry when you try to pay me for something I'd feel bad. After all I paid for your clothes when you didn't want me to, so I'd be a terrible hypocrite."

Harry followed after him, footsteps sounding soft despite the stone that they were walking on. Danny figured it must be some kind of spell on the ground. "Well, that makes some sense to me. Gringotts is that giant gold building up ahead."

Gold building he wasn't kidding about, the entire thing looked like one of those lost golden cities of ancient times. Or at least what he imagined they must have looked like. Danny whistled at the sight, wondering if there were a lot of buildings that looked like this in the wizarding world. While there were a lot of special places in the normal world he wondered what architecture could be created when one had magic at their disposal.

Harry was smiling at his appreciation and walked ahead of him up to the door of the building. It didn't open until Danny had stepped up by him, and then the large golden door swung inward and allowed them access inside.

Once they were in Danny felt like some cool liquid had washed through his body, causing him to shudder slightly. Harry didn't have the same reaction, he wondered if the boy had felt it or if he'd gotten used to it and that's why he hadn't reacted.

However he didn't have much time to consider it as Harry was already walking down the large room where creatures that Danny assumed to be goblins sat at desks writing with quills on papers.

He followed after him, unwilling to be left alone with these creatures that were giving him a look he wasn't sure that he liked.

Harry was already talking with the goblin at the giant desk there, frowning as he looked back at Danny when he stepped up beside him.

This goblin was also giving him that look, except it was far clearer. It was a look of clear distrust.

"Mr. Fenton," the goblin started, ignoring the look of shock that overcame Danny's face, "it is rather nice to see you finally appear here. We were worried that you would never be showing up."

Danny didn't reply at all, instead he whirled on his heels and made a bolt for the door. He hit a wall before he'd gotten two feet though, falling back onto his ass and holding his nose so that it wouldn't start bleeding.

"Fuckin'…" he hissed under his breath, recognizing the feeling as what would be a ghost shield except this one felt more magical. A magic ghost shield. How wonderful. Whatever he'd gotten himself into, there would be no way he could escape.

Harry was giving him a stunned wide-eyed look, apparently too shocked by what had just happened to speak up.

Danny ignored the look and got to his feet, glaring hard at the goblin behind his desk. The goblin that looked far too smug and pleased with himself.

"Now Mr. Fenton," the goblin said with the tone one would use when they knew they had the others attention and there would be no way they could argue with what they were proposing, "why don't you and Mr. Potter come with us before we show you to your vaults. There's something important that you both need to know."

Danny almost wanted to argue over why the goblin had said 'vaults' as if they were plural. That wasn't the most important thing here though and when Harry looked at him in slight alarm he only smiled at the boy reassuringly. If it came to it he would find a way out of here, he always ended up getting out of bad situations.

"Sure then sir, I'll see what it is you think's so important for us to see," was Danny's reply.

The goblin nodded in smug pleasure at his agreeing mood, signaling another goblin to come forward.

This new goblin looked at both of them as though he was excited. "Both of you come with me now," was all he said as he turned and walked through a door on the side of the room.

Harry and Danny looked at each other and Danny shrugged, indicating they should follow the goblin. Harry simply nodded nervously and went through the door, Danny following at a more sedate pace.

* * *

Yeah I left this one as a cliffhanger for right now. But hey, what can I say. Sometimes cliffhangers can be nice, since it leaves tension and the desire to know what's going on. I've been on the end of a great cliffhanger where I'm left for several days wondering and hypothesizing what's going to happen.

This one should be updated a lot faster than last time, since I'm actually kicking my butt over being stupid about this and taking so long.


	3. Light up the Life

Sorry that it took so long to update this! I've taken on a job at Pizza Hut in my town and I've been worked pretty hard recently. Come home and lie down exhausted from cooking or cleaning all day and when I get up to walk around my feet hurt and it makes me waddle around.

Thankfully I've had two days off now though, so I've had the chance to relax and get in some writing. I'm going to try to write at least a page a day though, so at least then I'm getting some work done on this without putting it off until the last minute.

I'm hoping people like the slight change in storytelling that this chapter has, because I got more detail-oriented in this one in a way I hadn't on the others from what I can tell. If you don't like it as much you can say so and I'll see about changing the writing style once more.

* * *

Inside the bank room was a myriad of strange objects that Danny had never seen before. In a corner was a huge machine that spat out smoke while whistling, an alarming noise that he had never heard even from a coffee pot when it was going off. Papers were strewn all over the desk in the room and stacks of papers were placed around the room in a way that suggested it was organized chaos of the kind that Danny had never seen before. Whenever he had had his own room years ago he'd had only pure chaos in how he arranged his things.

Beside the desk was a large pot that was filled with a murky white liquid. The pot itself was decorated with swirls of white flowers etched into the gold of the pot. It seemed to almost have a language etched into it as well, something that looked almost like what Danny would call chicken scratch if it wasn't for the fact he knew it wasn't made by chickens. Maybe it was whatever language the goblins themselves naturally spoke.

Besides the papers and the strange machines there wasn't much else in the room to pay attention to. Danny himself and Harry were both ushered into two high-backed chairs that were resting in front of the desk itself. They seemed like what you would expect in a lawyer's office, although he'd only ever been into one of those and that was when he'd been invisible at the time.

The chairs had comfortable padding both on the seat itself and the back of them, although when Danny shifted a bit he could hear a slight creaking from the chair's wood itself. He wasn't sure if that was just a normal thing for magical chairs or if it was perhaps some sign that it was about to fall apart. It wasn't on his already changing list of things to do today to fall from a broken chair and make a complete idiot of himself though so he stayed still in the chair to keep it from potentially breaking apart.

Harry seemed to be observing the room as much as Danny was, although he didn't seem to find the papers around the place as strange as Danny had. Maybe the boy was used to seeing papers everywhere like this or perhaps he just didn't get surprised at simple things like other people's ways of arranging items.

The one thing they were both doing in common was keeping their attention mostly on the goblin who was shuffling around through some of the papers around the room. The old goblin had pulled a few stacks over to his desk and had set them on the ground by it before it started rifling through them. Little papers were placed into new stacks by the originals, only a scant four papers were actually placed into a neat pile on the desk itself.

A completely strange sight and something he would not have expected. At least not for something magical, Danny had expected some kind of amazing system where they were maybe able to simply pull words out of the air or they might even be able to squeeze every paper they would ever have needed into a single book that magically turned to each page as they needed it. He'd never thought that beings that could use magic would rely on paper materials just as much as those that didn't use magic. Perhaps just because they had magic didn't mean they used it or flaunted it as often as would be expected.

He himself knew the joy of simply doing a task that you could do a lot faster if you used your powers. After all he liked walking places when he got somewhere new, there was always the feeling of satisfaction of walking along a sidewalk and watching all the people around you. Feeling the same things that everyone else in the area would feel as they went about their business, something you'd never experience if he were to turn ghost and fly around to memorize the city that way.

A loud noise of something smacking what sounded like the desk broke him out of his thoughts even as his body jolted and his eyes zeroed in on the desk and the goblin who was now seated into a high chair behind it. On the desk was a thick book, seemingly far too bulky for the size it actually was. Magic must have had something to do with that.

"While it was impolite of us to detain you in the way that we have done so, there was simply no other way to get around it. You would have bolted as you have already shown, but that was in no way an excuse for us having to hold you like this," the goblin said with a direct stare at Danny that felt as though he was looking into his very soul. Something he'd always heard about but had never actually experienced, it was rather disconcerting.

"Therefore I will have to apologize for doing that to you. For the rest of this we will require your cooperation, but I am hoping that you will be more than willing to go along with what we ask so that we may make sure of a few things. Things you will be interested in, I can assure you that."

By his side he heard some shuffling, Harry must have been unnerved by what was going on because almost immediately afterward came his voice. "Excuse me sir, but do I really have to be here if this has to do with Danny? I thought you weren't allowed to be there for private matters of another person?"

The look Harry received was one of appraisal and he must have passed whatever the goblin was looking for because he simply nodded slowly, his long fingers tapping lightly against the book on the desk. A nervous gesture, or something that the goblin naturally did?

"Yes Mr. Potter it is normally a rule that no one but the person to which the situation applies to is allowed to sit in and listen to Gringotts matters concerning another person. However," the goblin added quickly when Danny opened his mouth, "I think you will find that this does concern you if we are correct. If not then we will offer full apologies and make as many amends to what wrongs we have committed here."

The old creature didn't seem to think that would happen however. Danny wondered what could possibly involve Harry to the point that these creatures would break whatever rules they had so that he would be there to hear what was going on. Although he was rather grateful to have someone there who could use magic to potentially protect them both, even if we was still in school it was far better than the lack of knowledge Danny had overall on all things magic.

"W-well, if you're sure about that then I guess there's nothing else that I can say," was Harry's hesitant reply.

Instead of acknowledging the words at all the goblin went back to staring at Danny in that way that made him itch all over and want to just run out the door as fast as he could despite the fact he knew he couldn't. When people gave him looks like that it usually meant trouble, either with the law or with the people themselves. And he'd never had a look that intense either.

"Mr. Fenton…" the goblin started slowly, his voice taking on a slightly pleading tone which startled him, "would you assent to taking a heritage test for us?"

That was a strange request and something he hadn't been expecting at all. A heritage test? Did they want him to list off all his family that he knew about, because that would certainly be a rather short list. Danny hadn't stuck around to check out the rest of his family and he certainly could hardly remember any of his other relatives after so much time of wandering.

"Well I'm afraid I can't really tell you who my family is, sir, I don't even remember anyone outside of my immediate family as it is," was his somewhat apologetic yet confused response.

Danny got the feeling what he had said amused the goblin, if the curling of his lips was anything to go by. Or maybe he was disgusted that Danny apparently didn't understand the question he had asked.

"No, we don't require you to tell us who your family is. A heritage test will tell us itself who your family is, whether they be dead or alive."

That sounded rather spooky. Did it involve a lot of spellcasting and incantations? From what Danny knew of wizarding they used some fancy words that sounded old and Latin maybe and the words he'd heard were only for simple spells. How long of phrasing must a spell that showed people their family history be? There was absolutely no way he'd be able to remember even a line of the Latin-like spell words let alone actually repeat them if they needed him to.

"I suppose that would depend on what exactly I have to do," he said hesitantly, grinning weakly in the face of the goblin's stony expression.

"Mr. Fenton I can assure you that it won't require anything more than a drop of your blood. Of which you'd freely give us so there's no need to look so horrified. What do you think we are, mindless monsters from the dark ages?" While there was an undercurrent of dark amusement in the goblin's voice Danny thought there was a bit of bitterness there as well. Did people normally think they would bleed them out and it angered the goblins?

"Er, well, I guess I could give you a bit of my blood if that's all that it requires. It's not like I need every drop of my blood to survive, yeah?" And it wasn't like he couldn't simply turn ghost for a while and let his human body recover whatever blood loss it had sustained, although it hurt to do that for long periods of time. Harry was also a problem in that plan, as Danny would have to reveal what he was to him in order to accomplish that in the first place.

Apparently expecting his response the goblin simply nodded affirmation and a drawer was pulled out of the desk. Long fingers with claws on the end rifled through whatever was in said drawer before producing a wicked-looking blade with an edge that could probably cut through the desk itself if enough force was used.

Danny couldn't help the gulp he had at seeing something like that, afraid that maybe the goblin was actually going to do quite a lot more than simply taking a drop of his blood. Hadn't he been the fool one to specify "a bit" of his blood instead of the "drop" the goblin had mentioned? What if it was actually better for whatever this test was that they get as much blood from him as they needed, to which he'd accidentally agreed to?

The goblin's hand stretched out across the desk to him, palm up and fingers curled in a gesture Danny could only take as "give me your hand". The silent glare the goblin was giving him as well made him ashamed of the thoughts he'd been having and he wondered if maybe goblins had some kind of mind magic. It would certainly explain a lot of things.

As reluctant to give up his hand and whatever amount of blood the goblin would be taking he knew he had no choice but to simply give in to the demand the goblin was silently giving him and so therefore he put his own hand above the goblin's.

There wasn't even any warning as the goblin's claws sunk into his palm, little nasty things that dug in just like an angry cat's and then left as quickly as they had come. He didn't even have time to gasp before the goblin's hand was back at the goblin's side, pinpricks of his blood on the tips of his claws as his other hand rifled through a second drawer on the desk and brought out a small piece of paper.

On that piece of paper he pressed his claws, leaving the pinpricks of blood on them. They seemed to almost glow on the paper, something Danny didn't miss even though he was cradling his hand to his chest and trying to look it over for whatever damage the goblin had done. To his surprise there wasn't a single hole in his hand, as though the goblin hadn't just put its claws into him and drawn the small amount of blood it had. Magic, again, was the only explanation he could come up with.

There were no words spoken during the scant seconds that had just passed, outside of the little gasp and shifting from his side that spoke volumes of how unnerved Harry was currently.

No words of apology came from their host either as he instead kept his attention on the little paper, waiting for whatever it was that was going to happen. But nothing did happen, instead the goblin crunched the paper up in its claws and threw it into the golden pot with the white etchings as though it was nothing but a piece of trash needed to be gotten rid of as soon as possible.

Rather disappointing if Danny could have pointed out, although maybe it was expected considering he certainly wasn't magical at all so it probably wouldn't work for…

The etchings on the pot were glowing as much as the blood itself had been, drawing Danny's eyes to it as easily as the glowing blood had as well. There was something so strange about the glow, something that seemed to call out to him to just watch and stay silent because something important was about to happen, something that would change his life forever and even though he didn't understand how a simple glowing pot could change his life he listened to the pull.

Within seconds the white liquid in the pot was bubbling in a way he remembered only boiling pots did and despite the fact there was absolutely no warmth near the pot to set it to boil it was doing it all the same. On the surface of the water little golden bubbles were coming together like fish eggs he'd seen once upon a time in a sushi restaurant when they stuck it on the rolls to make them look like animals.

Except they weren't coming together to resemble animals but actual words, though it was the spidery words that were etched onto the side of the pot itself which made it impossible for Danny to read even if he could shift his body to properly look into the pot.

And then the boiling stopped, the pot lost its glow and returned to the state it had been in before any of it had started. The only remnants of the strange occurance was the golden bead-bubbles floating on the surface, still shifting almost lazily as the spidery symbols they were made of changed once more. This time Danny could see it was reforming into English even from where he sat, although he still couldn't read a bit of it from his sitting angle.

This was when the goblin made a soft "Aha" noise, clearly having been waiting for this moment the entire time because he hopped down off the high chair he had been sitting in and shuffled to behind the pot where there must have been a small chair or ladder waiting because he was standing by the pot and looking into it not two seconds later.

Danny still felt the pull to sit in his seat and wait however and so he kept his mouth shut and waited for whatever the goblin was reading in the pot to be finished.

The smug and pleased look the gnarly goblin face had when it tilted up to look at him almost set him off his lunch; it was something that he'd only imagined could exist in movies like Lord of the Rings or some other thing like that. Thankfully the malice that was normally in the other kind of goblin's faces were not on this one, and that made him feel a little more relaxed than he could have been.

"Mr. Fenton, if you would please come look at this I think you will be very pleasantly surprised by what you read here."

Nice words, ones that another person might have mistaken for as a request but Danny heard it for the command it was. Refusing to show the irritation on his face for being commanded around, he nonetheless stood from the chair. The rushing relief in his body as he finally relaxed after having spent just a few minutes frozen still made his body tingle while he walked to stand beside the goblin.

Looking at him the goblin raised his hand, the same one that had clawed him Danny noted absently, and gestured for him to lean over and read whatever bubble words were in the pot just as the goblin himself had.

Curiosity bit into him and he did just as the goblin silently suggested he do, not in the least annoyed at having once again been forced to do as the creature wanted.

Across the surface of the liquid read the words

Jack Fenton: Father (Deceased)

Maddie Fenton: Mother (Deceased)

Jazz Fenton: Sister (Deceased)

Rutiban Potter: Uncle (Deceased)

Galvianus Corpitus: Step-Aunt (Deceased)

Angela Potter: Cousin (Deceased)

Lily Evans-Potter: Step-Niece (Deceased)

James Potter: Nephew (Deceased)

Harry Potter: Great Nephew (Alive)

That was impossible was the first thing that crossed his mind. He didn't remember having an uncle, his parents had never brought it up the entire time that he had lived with them, nor had they ever mentioned anything about magic. Certainly they didn't know they had an uncle, or had they and just never told him about it?

Had his parents known such a thing as magic existed, had that been why they had reacted with such fear that night so long ago? Was it their intention to bring up their two children not knowing anything about magic because perhaps they had no ability to use magic and telling them that a special world full of magic and strange mythical creatures might only sadden them when they couldn't be a part of it?

So many questions raced through his mind, each vying for his attention but none of them could truly obtain it. Danny's mind was trying so very hard to understand what was in front of his eyes, either to deny what he was seeing and what it implied or to accept it and place it where the information needed to go compared to the rest of everything he'd ever known and what his life meant.

To have a godson meant responsibility and family, something he hadn't had weighing him down for a long time. He wasn't sure if it was something he was ready for or what he wanted to get involved in at all. A part of him was screaming out that he should run right now while he had the chance, just crash into the ghost shield and straight through it even if it wasn't possible because he couldn't stay here.

Another part, one that had been there since he first came across Harry and was growing stronger, told him to stay where he was and finally accept what he had wanted his whole life. A chance to start anew, to have a family that wasn't going to be torn away from him again and to live like regular people did. How he had looked into windows at Christmas, watching families as they had their dinner and laughed together and smiled with such love at each other that it tore his heart to pieces just to look at, he could have that now with this boy that was alive and his family. He could have that if only he would put together his colossal courage to stand and accept it.

And accept it he could, he realized. Once upon a time he had thought if it ever came to choosing between how he lived now or having a family that it would be the hardest choice he'd ever made but really it was the easiest. This was what he wanted and he was being given a second chance, what kind of fool would he be if he were to just push that chance aside and trudge on in his lonely free life.

There was a gasp from beside him which caused him to jump back from the pot, almost knocking into a few papers that only suddenly causing his legs to turn invisible saved him from. It took all his willpower not to burst out into curses as he moved himself forward so that he was no longer stuck half-way through a pile of papers, only then did he turn his legs back to normal and focus on what had startled him in the first place.

Harry was standing beside where he had been, staring down into the pot with a wide-eyed expression Danny could only partially see. When the boy had moved to stand beside him he really didn't know but it certainly must have had something to do with the smug goblin who was once more sitting in that high chair behind the desk, watching them both with a calculating eye.

And now the real worry started gnawing at him, seeing Harry coming to realize what he was looking at and what it meant for him. What if Harry didn't want to have him around as family? It was well and good that Danny himself had decided that he wanted to be around the boy as family and have a second chance at a life he'd never really had a first chance on, but that didn't mean Harry had to accept the same thing as him or that he even would.

After all Danny was a monster to most normal creatures, perhaps in a way that the goblin was a monster to him when he looked at their ugly faces and the way they would curl their lips up into a distasteful smile that almost made him want to either punch them or run away. Harry could easily see that kind of thing in him if he was to ever tell him what he really was or the things that he had done.

He didn't get much chance to worry about it though because Harry was turning him, away from the pot and behind his thick glasses his eyes were blurred up from tears. Somehow it brought the emerald of his eyes out more than it ever had before and for a dizzying moment Danny could almost convince himself that he was looking at a mix of himself and his own ghost half, those eyes looked so much like his ghost self's glowing eyes he simply couldn't mistake the boy as anything but family to himself.

"You're… you're my grand uncle…" the soft and watery voice that rasped from Harry's throat wasn't something he could ever have imagined the boy creating until now. He wasn't sure if it was a good kind of overly emotional strain on a voice or not and the nervousness eating at him was getting worse by the second.

"Y-yeah…" he mumbled, biting down on his lip almost hard enough to draw blood. The pain was distracting, pain always was. "I guess… yeah, that can't be a lie, can it?"

Harry laughed, a small and weak sound of someone who couldn't believe what was going on around them. Danny had heard someone laugh like that once, before they had carted the boy off to an insane asylum and he never saw him again. The last he had ever heard of that boy was that he had stabbed a nurse twelve times for looking at him the wrong way.

"If you… don't want me to be around…" Danny started hesitantly but was immediately silenced as Harry's body collided heavily with his own, sending them both back into the stacks of papers. The goblin cried angrily at the papers that scattered almost everywhere in the office but Danny didn't pay him any attention anymore as his arms were now filled with a crying young boy who was clinging onto him as if his life depended on it.

"No, no! You can't leave me, not now!" And the terror within the boy's frail voice caused tears to spring to his own eyes as he wrapped his arms tight around him, gently rocking the boy as he remembered once being rocked when he had been scared or crying.

Danny didn't remember well what someone said to make people calm down, but he did as best he could without breaking down himself. Although there was a slight tremor to his own voice and his vision was blurring due to the tears in his eyes he managed to keep control over himself for the sake of the younger boy.

"Shhh, shh… If you want me to stay with you then I will… The only way I'd leave you alone now is if you want me to leave…"

There were no other words he could honestly say, simply settling on the shushing that he remembered mothers sometimes using in movies and the gentle rocking that he hoped was as soothing to Harry as he remembered it being. Something he was doing must have been right because the boy in his arms slowed his shaking, the hitching in his breath lessening as the minutes went by until there was nothing left but a tired boy clinging to him with loose arms.

Danny wiped the boy's hair off his face and watched the tired emerald eyes as they nearly closed in exhaustion and near sleep, wanting nothing more than to take him out of the bank now and return to the inn where the boy could sleep as much as he needed.

But the throat clearing from the desk reminded him that they didn't have that privilege, not if they wanted to be courteous to the person who had shown them this heavy piece of information that was so very important to the rest of their lives. And Danny had no intentions of being rude towards someone who had gone so far out of his way for this.

Nodding his head in acknowledgement of the almost silent request, Danny tightened his arms around Harry and pushed himself off the papers with his elbows, cringing slightly as the hard ground dug through the papers into his arms. Getting Harry and himself up while at the same time letting the boy cling to him like his life depended on it was a difficult task, but one that he managed nonetheless.

It was only when he looked down that he could really see just how much of a mess the two of them had made. Papers that were once in the ordered stacks that had been on the floor were now scattered around the room as though a buffalo had run through it and stamped its hooves any place it could reach. At the very least he was grateful that only a few stacks had been affected, if every stack had collapsed Danny was sure the entire room would be an ocean of papers, and wouldn't that be something interesting to swim through.

A sheepish grin was turned towards the goblin as Danny waved one hand towards the papers. "I'm, uh, really sorry about that," he tried as his apology, grin wavering as the goblin once more gave him that expressionless stare. That kind of thing must be normal for these creatures, he wondered if they enjoyed scaring and unnerving people.

"Mr. Fenton I have to say that was the first time anyone has ever been brave enough to crash part of my office, even if they didn't realize what they were doing at the time. However considering the circumstances that led to the event I must say that I am not as upset about it as I could be."

The crisp formality in the goblin's tone was offlaid by a tinge of warmth that Danny had yet to hear in this creature ever before. It made him look at him in a new light, as a creature that was actually capable of being warm and feeling kind towards others wherein before it had seemed only strictly business. That was why he hated lawyers and the like, no matter how many times he had seen them they always seemed to not care about others and only wanted to get their job done as easily as they could.

"Well, thank you," he said, nodding again in gratitude towards being let off so easily. "However if there's any way I can make up for it, I'd like to do so."

The warmth was gone from the goblin once more as he was given yet another intense stare from him, although there was that quirk of his lips that set Danny's stomach twinging. "Well Mr. Fenton… If you're that interested in being in my debt I will see what you can repay me with when the right time comes. Until then, I'd prefer it if you and Mr. Potter continued on to your vaults at this point. Perhaps along the way you can connect better."

It was a clear dismissal, and one that Danny wasn't interested in disobeying. Instead of saying anything further to the goblin he turned his attention to the teenager in his arms and gently pressed his fingers into his back to get his attention. It took a few moments but eventually Harry gave a slight jerk and then his head came up so those emerald eyes were looking at him in wide-eyed confusion. He might not have even realized where he was anymore.

"D-danny…?"

A bright smile slid onto his face, one of the easiest he's had in a long time and that he didn't even have to think about before it came on. "Hey, we kind of are invading his office here and I don't think he's going to be too happy to let us stay any longer after we messed up all his papers."

Harry blinked slowly as he processed the information he gave him, and then turned his eyes to the floor where they traced the papers that were around them. Then his eyes widened as it finally must have sunk in exactly what Danny was saying. His face turned so red that Danny was almost worried it was unhealthy for it to happen that fast.

"O-oh, I'm so sorry!" he breathed out in a rush, pulling away from Danny so fast that Danny had to actually grab his arm to keep him from falling over. "I didn't mean to do it, really I didn't, I was just-"

The goblin cut him off before he could keep going, shaking his head along with his hand in dismissal. "It doesn't matter Mr. Potter, Mr. Fenton has already volunteered to make it up to me at a later date whenever I decide to call in the favor. As it is, you should continue on to your vault now so that you don't waste the rest of your day without doing what you came to do."

Seeing as Harry was going to try to continue apologizing Danny did the only thing he knew to do, he wrapped an arm around the boy's waist and pulled him bodily out of the office. The door shut behind them with an audible click and the hum that came with it assured Danny that the shield which had been keeping him stuck in Gringotts must have come down as well. He felt far more relaxed knowing that was gone, and it must have showed because Harry was giving him a curious stare even as he took over and led them to a goblin that was watching them from the other side of the room.

"Griphook, could you show us to my vault please? I need to make a withdrawal to get some extra things before I go to Hogwarts," was what Harry said to the goblin, smiling widely at the creature in that friendly way he had. This must not be normal to goblins because the one called Griphook simply grunted, a confused look on his face as he peered at Harry from his position near the floor. Whatever he saw must have pleased him because he grunted again and picked up a lantern, turning on his heel and going down a thin hallway behind him.

"Come along then, Mr. Fenton, Mr. Potter. I'll show you to your vault first, Mr. Potter, and then Mr. Fenton can visit his own," was what Griphook called over his shoulder, and while Danny wanted to once again question why they said that he had his own vault he didn't have the chance because Harry's hand wiggled into his own and squeezed hard.

Danny looked down at the teenager who stared back up at him with a determined look on his face, frown crossing his lips even as he tugged on their combined hands and started to lead Danny down the hallway after the goblin. At the end of a hallway there was a giant chasm with ropes going across it and what looked like some ancient metal piece someone had taken off a carriage that would apparently be taking them down into the chasm. It hardly looked safe at all despite the fact that Griphook was already sitting in the front of it with the lantern placed down beside him, as bored as the moment he first set eyes on the goblin.

Harry didn't even give him a chance to voice his concern about the ride before he had stepped onto the carriage piece as well and had drug Danny along with him, pulling again on their combined hands to force him into a sit.

The boy turned to look at him with that determined expression again, eyes hard yet curious in a way Danny hadn't seen from anyone before even as he opened his mouth. "Danny, how can you be my great uncle if you're only around seventeen?" he asked curiously, while the question sounded innocent enough there was a hard edge underneath it that said he wanted to know the truth and he didn't want to hear any lying about it.

Danny didn't get the chance to answer him as the carriage underneath them suddenly gave way and plummeted down into the chasm at a speed not even the fastest roller coaster he'd ever been on had achieved. The only thing he could do was scream in fear and clutch onto the boy beside him as they fell into the darkness underneath the golden bank.

* * *

Yeah, once more I'm being evil and leaving a cliffhanger but I simply can't help it. The Gringotts part of the story is supposed to be really important, although how important it's going to be will be up in the air until I have more of the story written out and decided on. Some things might be picked up again and used later on, I don't have the story all decided on currently so it can go any way that I want it to.

Look forward to an update within the week, and if you see me taking too long to update don't be afraid to shoot me a PM getting on me about it!


	4. Money and Mansions

A big thanks to toothless20 for reminding me that it's been a week now since I last updated, I'd been distracted with other things. Because of the reminder I was able to type up this today, although it doesn't cover all that I'd like it to it's at least good enough to post.

* * *

It took him several moments to realize he wasn't falling to his death thousands of feet onto the floor of the vast cavern they were in. It took even longer to put together that they were actually rocketing through the cavern at a speed he knew surely wasn't safe when there weren't even seat belts on the carriage thing. Beside him Harry seemed less phased than he was, at least he looked worried and afraid they might end up falling off because if he hadn't at least seemed worried about that Danny might have thrown up his hands and proclaimed the boy insane then and there.

That said nothing about the goblins as a race not being insane however, if this was their method of getting around within their own cavern of a bank. Danny wouldn't want to be on this carriage ride even if he was in ghost form and was therefore impervious to such things as falling to his death, and he made sure that his dislike of the entire thing was known by his clinging tightly onto Harry's side the entire time, certain that his nails were digging tight into the boy's arm and surely drawing blood even as he continued to scream out his terror.

For Harry's credit he didn't do much more than wince at the pain his arm must be in, not that Danny could see much more than the wince or even hear if the boy was trying to tell him to get off because the air down here whistled loudly as the carriage moved along the thick hanging wires it was on, it caught any sounds that were made and tore them away before anyone could hear them. The only way Danny even knew he was screaming was because his mouth was wide open and he could barely hear the scream before the air was able to take it away.

It might have been the length of an average roller coaster ride for all Danny knew but the pure terror he'd never felt on a simple amusement park ride made the trip feel an eternity. So it was with an overwhelming relief that he felt the carriage start to slow down almost of its own accord, just in time too, he realized, because there was a wall coming fast at them. Only sheer will kept him from once again screaming, because _thankfully_ he'd stopped that by now, which he was grateful for as the carriage came to a stop and lightly tapped the side of the wall.

His entire body felt exhausted suddenly from the amount of adrenaline that had pumped through his body from the experience and he knew he was going to need to eat a giant meal after this just to feel up to continuing their adventure in Diagon Alley.

Something tugged on his shoulder and he blinked slowly, sluggishly looking up at Harry who was trying to get him to stand so they could step off the carriage onto the awaiting small cropping on the wall. He stared blankly at the cropping, wondering what was wrong with the entire goblin species that they not only had themselves walk on such an insane bit of walkway on the edge of a _cliff_ but also made their _customers_ do the same as well.

Was there such a thing as a lawsuit that existed in the wizarding world? With what he'd just gone through in the last half hour alone Danny was convinced that no, in fact, no such thing as lawsuits had to exist here because someone surely would have sued by now. If he'd had heart problems he'd probably have died on the ride just to land where he was, sitting in a carriage dangling on a rather decayed-looking wire.

Maybe someone needed to politely suggest the career path of lawyer to these wizards because from what little Danny had already seen of their world they seriously needed it.

He choked back a laugh at the thought and allowed Harry to pull him onto his feet, shakily stepping onto the small outcropping of a path and helping Harry onto it after himself. Uneasily he peeked over the side of the path and pulled himself back against the wall tightly, if it wouldn't have looked completely silly he'd have gone so far as to _cling_ to the wall.

However since it would look silly he refrained from doing so, just barely though, and looked to his side where the goblin that had brought them here, Griphook, looked bored as seemed the norm for goblins. Having attention on him at least got the creature moving as it gave him a sour look, lips twisting into a cruel smirk, probably because of the screaming fit Danny had on the carriage, before turning around and holding the lantern aloft. Thankfully he did have the lantern because otherwise he's sure they'd never be able to see this far down, and he followed him silently, Harry plodding along behind him from the sound of footsteps.

None of them ended up tripping and falling to their death, for which Danny was extremely grateful for. He nearly jumped off the cropping himself when a hand found its way into his own, another hand having to grab his arm to keep him from doing so out of the sheer surprise of it. When he looked to see whose hands it was he saw Harry smiling sheepishly from behind him, as close as the boy probably dared to be given how little they actually knew each other. Nephew or not, it was still rather weird to get up on someone's back if you hardly knew them.

Danny smiled back at him, a silent gesture to make sure he wasn't angry at Harry for his desire to hold his hand, something that warmed his stomach and set butterflies in where his heart had to be. That was rather weird, actually, but maybe that's what happened when you were around family.

After trudging on the outcropping and passing many metal doors with intricate locks Danny was sure not even a master safecracker could pass, and really was it _necessary_ to make such flashy looking vaults when you had magic that could lock it, Griphook stopped immediately in front of a vault that could pass as any other they had passed. Danny didn't know how he could even tell what vault it was; there wasn't even a number on it. And then there was a number, it just appeared on the vault door out of thin air and if Danny hadn't been staring at the vault door to begin with he'd have just thought it was there the entire time and he hadn't noticed it.

The amount of times magic had surprised him despite knowing about it was rather annoying, he was starting to wonder if he'd ever get used to magic being responsible for all the crazy things that happened around here. Danny had grown up with ghostly things happening so it wasn't that surprising it didn't phase him now, he didn't have that luxury with magic.

"Mr. Potter, may I have your key?" the goblin asked, staring directly at Harry with those creepy beady eyes that made Danny question whether he was going to use the key for the intended purpose or some homicidal one… And then he almost smacked himself for being stupid.

Harry didn't even hesitate to reach into his pocket and pull out a thick golden key, and it was just so ridiculous looking it had to be far heavier than was necessary and there were five prongs on the thing. Just what kind of insane locks did these vaults have to require a key like _that_?

Griphook took the key from his nephew and turned towards the vault, wasting no time to place the key into a hole that had definitely not been there a minute ago. It slid into the hole with ease and Danny heard a few clicking sounds that seemed to echo faintly around the cavern near them, the key twisted slowly around in a circle and then held tight in place.

Before them the vault door creaked and slid up along the wall until it was fully out of the way and they were staring through a large hole in the side of the wall, inside what looked like a rather small room there was a dim light on and underneath the light were some piles of gold like things.

Danny waited for Harry to step through the hole into the room before following him in, believing it was proper manners to let the owner of the vault in before anyone else. Griphook seemed to follow the same manners because he didn't come in at all and respectfully stayed outside, watching them.

There were quite a lot of piles of the gold coins now that he was inside the vault, they seemed to be small compared to the piles one might see in treasure movies or pictures but it was certainly more than he had ever expected to see. It was strange to see that wizards followed the British people in using round coins for their currency, although he could see there was a big difference between the two types of currency.

Danny held back from picking any up to observe them closer, knowing that would be extremely rude. Not to mention it could easily look like theft and the last thing he wanted was for Griphook or Harry to think he was stealing some of the coins. It wasn't even on his mind at all except that he knew how sensitive people could be to things like that, and some people had thought Danny looked shifty enough to rob a person blind. He'd promptly been offended at the suggestion, though it hadn't made the drifters think otherwise.

"So what exactly are these called?" he asked curiously, standing back and watching as Harry rifled through one of the piles in the middle and picked out quite a few of the large gold coins. That was when Danny noticed there were silver and bronze-looking coins within the piles as well, because Harry was picking a few of those out as well. They didn't look like much, but who knew how much wizards needed to carry around with them to buy things. Maybe this was a fortune, maybe it wasn't.

Once Harry was through with that he looked through his pocket and pulled out one of each of the coins Danny had seen and walked back over to him, smiling wide at Danny's curious look. Not only because of the coins but that Harry had just placed the coins into his pocket but the pocket didn't seem to have gotten any bigger at all, and certainly the amount he'd picked out couldn't have fit in the pocket of those pants. He was going to have to once again magic was somehow responsible for that, even though they were Muggle pants and certainly weren't spelled.

His nephew held up the gold coin between them, allowing Danny to take it and turn it around in his hand. On the outside of the coin was a series of numbers that Danny didn't particularly understand, but then again dollars in the United States had serial numbers on them as well. Maybe this was the same thing.

On the front of the coin was the picture of a strange wizard, or at least what Danny could only assume was a wizard. It was a rather strange interpretation of what they looked like, at least according to the wizards he'd been able to see while he was here. When he turned the coin over there was a picture of a dragon with its wings outspread, and Danny was suddenly curious what a dragon actually looked like in the wizarding world. There were so many different myths of what a dragon looks like it was interesting to think about.

Perhaps they looked like the dragon princess who had once chased him for days on end begging him to take her to the ball that she had been forbidden to go to. He rather hoped they did not, the last thing he needed was more memories of that extremely creepy week.

He held it back out to Harry once he had thoroughly looked it over enough for his tastes and was given the silver coin, which was smaller than the golden one had been.

"That one is a Sickle, the gold one was a Galleon. The last one is a Knut, which is worth the least."

He was given the bronze one as well and looked them both over. The same face of the wizard was on both of the coins, although smaller considering the relative sizes of both of the coins. On the silver one, the Sickle, was another dragon although it looked like the type of dragon he remembered were called wyverns. The kind that didn't have front legs, only back legs. It was rather short and stubby, making him grin at it.

On the Knut was a picture of a deer, which was rather out of place considering the other two coins had dragons on them. Was there something special about deer in the wizard world or was it just some random creature they decided to put on the coin that was worth the least?

"How much are each of them worth?" he asked curiously as he handed them back to his nephew who put them back into his pocket before looking thoughtful.

"Well there are 493 Knuts to a Galleon, but only 29 Knuts to a Sickle. From a Sickle to a Galleon is 17."

That was quite a lot; no wonder Harry had only picked out a few of the Knuts. While his pocket seemed to be bottomless when it came to stuffing the coins into it even Danny wouldn't want to carry around hundreds of Knuts just to make up a Galleon, that would just be like an American carrying around thousands of pennies to buy things at the market. Simply ridiculous and he wondered if the goblins let people trade in Knuts for Sickles and Galleons. He hoped so; otherwise life must be rather hard on the poor people.

"I'll guess you don't know how much it translates to in Muggle terms?" Danny asked, hazarding a guess on that. What would things like this exchange as, if it was even possible to exchange them with Muggles in the first place. He imagined a wizard trying to trade some of those coins in at a Muggle store and almost burst out laughing at the mental image of a confused shopkeeper and an even more confused wizard, both of them not sure what the other was wanting at all.

Harry paused and frowned for a long moment, shaking his head. "I'm afraid I don't actually, I've heard of wizards trying to exchange them with Muggles but it didn't work out. Mostly because the Muggles had no idea what they were trying to trade with them. I'm not sure if it's possible to change it for Muggle money."

Griphook must have been listening because he clanged his lantern on the floor of the outcropping he was still waiting on outside. "A Galleon is exchanged at £4.93; I assume you aren't as interested in the exchange rate of the other two. Hardly anyone wants to exchange those, considering how little worth they have in the Muggle world."

Danny smiled in gratitude at being given an answer, especially when the goblin didn't have to speak up and answer them and could have left them curious about it. "Thank you Griphook, that's actually really interesting to know."

Instead of acknowledging his thanks the goblin simply grunted and went back to staring into the air of the cavern. Danny watched him for a moment before glancing around the room. The only thing in this room was coins and Harry had gotten all he wanted out of there.

"Should we get going then?" he asked, quirking a grin at his nephew while making a grand gesture towards the circle entrance to the vault.

Harry grinned back at him and made the same gesture back at him before walking over to the entrance. "Why, we should get going, we do have a long day ahead of us after all."

They climbed out of the circular hole and together looked at the goblin who had been escorting them. Griphook didn't acknowledge them and instead waved his hand in front of the circle entrance, immediately the vault door closed back over it with a loud creaking noise until it was fully in place. Clicks once again echoed from the vault door as the key that was still in it turned the opposite way on its own before popping out of the hole.

Griphook took it fully out of the hole and held it out for Harry who took it with a smile, not seeming the slightest confused by what had just happened. Danny was starting to wish he could be so unaffected, although he was pleased most of his expressions shouldn't have given his surprise away.

He assumed they would be going now and so he turned around to go back to where the carriage was still hanging in the far distance and said, "Well, time for us to get back up in Diagon Alley and finish whatever shopping we have left, Harry."

Except once again his expectations weren't met as Griphook's bored voice answered him, "I thought you would like to visit your own vault, Mr. Fenton. However if you would like to leave without viewing it…"

Danny turned around to give the goblin a confused look, realizing that was what he'd been forgetting the whole time. Why the goblins would say "vaults" when referring to both of them, even though Danny had never been in the wizarding world before and certainly wouldn't have a vault. He was sure about _that_.

"You must have me mistaken with someone else," he frowned at the goblin's curled lips, "I have never been in the wizarding world before this week and I certainly do not remember ever being in this place before. I don't have a vault here."

"That is where you are mistaken, Mr. Fenton, you do have a vault here. Although, as you have said, you have not been here yourself to create one. No, this vault belongs to one of your distant ancestors and as the only remaining descendant the vault falls to your care."

Danny mused over that, surprised to hear that the vault system here seemed to be very different from what he had known in America. To keep a vault from apparently a very old ancestor just for their descendant to come along one day to claim it required a lot of devotion to the vault itself.

"Oh," he mumbled, "well… uh… Well who is the one who originally owned the vault?" It seemed like a rather important question to ask, although since he wasn't a wizard he doubted he'd know the name of the person even if he was told it.

Griphook smirked darkly and shook the lantern in his hand a bit, the flame within it whirling around and sputtering but not dying. "Rowena Ravenclaw, although I don't believe you would know who that is."

Harry must know though, if the gasp he made at the name was any indication. And the fact he was now staring wide-eyed at Danny as though he'd never seen him before was another large indication. Whoever this Rowena was must have been important for him to look so shocked. Were they wizarding royalty or something, maybe?

"Well Harry seems to know who that is, but do you mind telling me?" Danny asked politely, blinking in bewilderment as the goblin smirked wider and stepped past him to continue to where the carriage was waiting.

Well then, obviously that goblin wasn't about to go telling him anything that was necessary for him to know. Honestly he should have probably expected something like that, the goblin race seemed to enjoy taunting people and leaving them in situations they didn't want to be in. Take the outcropping they were still standing on, Danny didn't want to be there any longer than he needed to and yet he was still there.

Realizing that he started after the goblin and behind him he heard Harry's footsteps following at a slower pace, perhaps still in shock from what he had just heard.

"Did… did he say _Rowena Ravenclaw_?" came Harry's voice from behind him, and the shock in it was apparent. Danny had to bite his lip hard to not laugh, he just sounded so hilarious at that moment that even the apparent seriousness of whoever this was couldn't stop him.

After he'd gotten himself under control he looked over his shoulder, making sure it was the shoulder to the cavern so he didn't fall into it like an idiot, and cheekily chirped, "Yeah, that's what he said. Is that someone special?"

His nephew's mouth could be a fly's nest at this point for how open it was and his eyes were so wide Danny amusedly wondered if they'd actually fall right out of his head even if it wasn't physically possible. That by itself was answer enough that yes, in fact, whoever this woman had been was very important.

"S-she's one of the founders of Hogwarts!" Harry sputtered through his shock, it was rather amusing to watch him force the words out and he actually had to open and close his mouth a few times to manage it.

Oh, so that was who this person was. A founder of the biggest school in all of Britain that Harry went to, no wonder he was so- wait _what_?

He paused in his walking and felt Harry step on the back of his shoe before he stopped himself. "Woah, that's… kinda cool. I'm not sure how I can be related to her though; doesn't that mean you're related too?"

Harry peered around him at Griphook who waited in the carriage with that same bored look on his face Danny was beginning to associate with goblins as a whole, any time he thought of a goblin he was going to see them with that bored look on their face as though everything you did was just a waste of time to them and they had better things to do.

Griphook grunted and tapped his claws on the carriage underneath him. "No, I'm afraid, Mr. Potter. As you're only a great nephew the blood relation to Rowena Ravenclaw is not enough to call yourself a true descendant, only a distant one. It is not enough to gain access to the Ravenclaw vaults by yourself, the only reason you can go into it currently is if Mr. Fenton allows you to. Of which I already assume or else he would tell me otherwise."

Danny shook his head to decline to offer, he definitely wanted Harry to be there with him. Danny certainly didn't know how much money was going to be in that vault but however much it was he was hoping Harry would be wise enough when it came to wizarding currency to make sure he only took a proper amount to buy a few things around the Alley.

Seeing that Griphook was a little impatient with them he smiled apologetically and stepped onto the cart behind him, Harry crawled in beside him and settled down. In time too as the next moment the carriage was once again rocketing off across the cavern, somehow it must have switched the cables it was on because they were going even deeper into the cavern itself and as the carriage continued on its heart-stopping way he began to see bits of the cavern floor. Or at least the little pieces of rock that jutted out through the mist, coming dangerously close to them.

Ahead of them was a deluge of water pouring from thin air and when they went through it Danny felt like a hammer had just hit him, he sagged against Harry and gasped in pain, holding his shirt above his heart and feeling it pound hard in fear. His entire body was further drained of energy and he wanted nothing more than to sink down onto the carriage floor and sleep until he'd regained his energy.

Griphook glanced back at them with a sharp frown. "Oh yes, I forgot about that. I apologize Mr. Fenton, I did not think about the Thief's Downfall which we just passed. You will surely feel pain for a few more moments, when one such as you goes through the waterfall it nullifies your ability to get around unseen until you are out of the bank once more. It makes sure that you are not going to sneak in anywhere to steal anything."

Danny wished the goblin could have spoken up earlier about such a waterfall existing within the bank because at least then he'd be prepared for the level of pain that sparked through his body, but as Griphook said it was starting to recede. Within a few more moments it was as if the pain had never been there, although his body felt heavy now. He wondered what would happen if he tried to go intangible and held back from trying, lest it be something that caused him even worse pain.

There wasn't much time left before they were coming to a halt on the cavern floor in front of a few giant doors. Through the mist he could see shadows twisting around, as though giant creatures were moving around them. Actually it didn't sound insane to think that, who knew what kind of security measures goblins would have to protect some of their most important vaults as these giant ones seemed to be. Just the size of them hurt his head, imagining how much gold must be within them was beyond his comprehension.

Griphook was already out of the carriage and hobbling over to the vault door that was closest to where their carriage had come to a halt, Danny looked at his nephew sitting beside him. He was distracted staring into the mist; he must have noticed the shadows moving as well. To comfort him he placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, wincing when he jumped hard and his head whipped around to stare at him.

"Sorry about that," he whispered to him, feeling that it was necessary to do so. Danny didn't know what might set off whatever was around them, and Griphook hadn't said anything about noise drawing their attention but you never knew in the wizarding world.

"It's okay…" Harry whispered back reassuringly, smiling at him and reaching up with his own hand to put it over Danny's. Looking at their hands together made his stomach warm and fuzzy, he felt like they could take on even the shadows moving around them and win without a single problem.

Though the idea was insane and not possible at all that didn't stop him from feeling like he could do it. Putting aside the strange idea he tightened his grip on Harry's shoulder for a second before letting go of him, turning towards the vault door which was now open and climbing out of the carriage.

It was high off the ground this time and he had to hold out his hand to help Harry get down. While doing so he imagined how a man would help their lady out of their carriage in olden days and had to hold in a snicker. Harry in a dress would be rather interesting; he'd have to see if the boy was up to it one day. Even if it took a little persuading to do, wasn't it only natural for family to have blackmail on each other after all?

"So I guess we go in now, huh?" Harry asked him as he looked up at him, releasing his hand from Danny's grasp as soon as he had helped him down. There was a flush on his cheeks and Danny wondered if he found it embarrassing to get help just to get off the carriage, or…

Shaking his shoulders, feeling a few sore muscles stretch from the action and enjoying the feeling of it, he focused on the task at hand instead of whatever his mind was trying to wander to without his permission. Nodding at the rhetorical question, he flashed a grin at his nephew.

"Hey, you're not scared some giant dragon's going to come out of there and eat us are you?" he asked teasingly, the outlandish description making him laugh, though there was a tad nervousness to it as well. What if there actually was a giant dragon down here and Griphook was trying to get rid of him by leading him to the vault they kept the dragon in?

Harry scoffed at him and threw up his hands. "There is no giant dragon that's going to eat us. At least… not in the vault, I assume. Unless Rowena Ravenclaw somehow kept a dragon in her vault and it stayed alive this whole time…"

That was rather disturbing to think about, he wondered how long a dragon survived locked away in a vault. If it would somehow just grow so large that it died smushed up against the walls of the vault itself. And what it would need to eat to keep living just to get to that point, considering it only seemed that the goblins opened the vaults whenever their owner was there…

He cleared his throat and steeled his expression into a determined one, staring intently at the vault opening and ignoring the exasperated yet amused face of Griphook standing beside it. "If there's a dragon in there then we'll simply have to slay it," he summised simply. With that declaration said he stormed over to the circular vault entrance and crawled through it.

Little scrapes on stone behind him alerted him that Harry was following him, but he wasn't' paying any attention to whatever his nephew was doing. He was simply gaping at the sheer volume of _things_ within the large vault that looked almost like the inside of a giant mansion. Like a literal giant mansion all hollowed out on the inside, not even the grand entrance halls they sometimes had.

He hadn't even known it was allowed to have items in your vault, it was a bank after all, but thinking back on it that had been a silly of him to assume, considering regular banks would let you have a personal box to store some important documents or items that you wanted to keep safe in the bank.

Still the amount of things, from books to large _moving_ paintings, filled up much of the space. There were only a few piles of gold around the room; however those piles were bigger than any that had been in Harry's vault. Just from what he could see from where he stood he was sure that he could probably afford to buy almost anything he wanted, and he could probably pawn off a lot of the things in here to get even more money with which to buy things.

That didn't appeal to him though, pawning off a long dead woman's items just for money was too heartless. Besides, there might still be a lot of value in all of these things. The books alone might be really interesting to go through, who knew what kind of things a founder of the greatest school he'd heard of so far might have as reading material lying around in their private vault?

Looking through the items themselves might have to wait though, considering the sheer volume of them all and how little time they actually had to do this with. Danny grimaced and imagined he'd have to come back here quite a few times to actually look through everything that he might want to. That was something for another day though and so he turned and looked at Harry with a wry grin, "What say you we get to looking for something that might be the most interesting and leave the rest for another time?"

Harry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds the best idea right now. There's no way I have the patience to look through even a quarter of the stuff in here right now, let's just look for something that catches our eye and see if we want to take it with us."

They didn't get the chance as something broke through a book stack and came straight at them, shrieking like some kind of giant bat.

* * *

There might be a lack of things going on in this chapter but in the next one I'm planning on having a few interesting things come to play, especially something that will be very important for the rest of the story.


End file.
